Hit indie JRPG Sea of Stars has a neat little throwback to the classic that helped inspire it

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There's a line straight from Chrono Trigger in the new game

Sea of Stars screenshot
(Image credit: Sabotage Studio)

Sea of Stars has a very explicit reference to Chrono Trigger, one of the games that inspired it.

At first glance, Sea of Stars is very overtly inspired by RPGs of old like Chrono Trigger - one look at its pixelated art style is all you need to tell you that. It turns out that the new RPG actually has a very direct reference to Chrono Trigger, which is seen just below in the clip from Twitter.

"Man, you're nosy. Here, take this," says one NPC in Sea of Stars when the party badgers him into conversation. The NPC bestows upon the party Mushroom Soup, and it's these exact words that were uttered by another, similarly-bothered NPC back in Chrono Trigger.

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Thankfully, the clip above from Twitter actually has both instances of the sentence, back-to-back for slightly younger viewers to see. Personally, I can't help but wonder why developer Sabotage chose to go with this exact, blink-and-you'll-miss-it quote as its reference to Chrono Trigger over anything else.

If you didn't know though, making retro-inspired games is sort of Sabotage's whole deal. 2018's smash-hit The Messenger was a love letter to both pixelated platformers and Metroidvanias, while Sea of Stars is a tribute to the classic JRPGs of the 1990s, just like Chrono Trigger.

So far at least, Sea of Stars is a huge launch for Sabotage, debuting to over 100,000 copies sold in under 24 hours (and that's not including downloads from Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus users). Our own Sea of Stars review lavished it with praise, deeming it a terrific tribute to the JRPGs of yesteryear.

You can read up on our upcoming indie games guide for a look ahead at some of the more eye-catching smaller titles coming out later this year. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.